Month: May 2019

Laurence Tribe And Andrew Napolitano Vs. Alan Dershowitz On Obstruction Of Justice Of Donald Trump

Ronald 18 Comments

Laurence Tribe is a Harvard Law School professor, highly renowned and respected.

Andrew Napolitano is a well known Fox News Channel legal commentator and an attorney, known for his conservative views.

Alan Dershowitz is, like Laurence Tribe, a Harvard Law School professor, well known for drawing attention to himself, and controversial for the people he has represented in court, including O J Simpson 25 years ago.

Tribe, a well known liberal, and Napolitano, a well known conservative who often has been supportive of Donald Trump, have joined together in their assessment of the Robert Mueller report and recent statement, making it clear that Donald Trump is guilty of obstruction of justice, and should face impeachment. Napolitano also has said that a sitting President can be indicted, despite the statements of Robert Mueller. Tribe has also said that America could lose its soul and constitutional democracy if Trump does not face impeachment.

Dershowitz has argued against impeachment, and claims that there is no evidence to demonstrate that Donald Trump has done anything to deserve such proceedings. He is often on Fox News Channel, and is seen as an apologist for Donald Trump. He has been sharply critical of the Robert Mueller investigation and its conclusions.

The battle over possible impeachment is riling the Democratic Party and the House of Representatives, with Speaker Nancy Pelosi still opposed to action short term, and instead wanting a buildup of evidence before such a move commences, while many say there is already a tremendous amount of material to promote such an initiative.

Average Age Of Presidents Is 55: Should Democrats Choose A Younger Nominee?

Ronald 3 Comments

The Democratic Party faces a quandary: Should they choose a younger nominee as more likely to attract younger voters?

Three times in the past half century, the Democrats picked a much younger nominee than the Republicans:

1976 Jimmy Carter 11 years younger than Gerald Ford

1992 Bill Clinton 22 years younger than George H. W. Bush

2008 Barack Obama 25 years younger than John McCain

All three of those Republicans were far less provocative and controversial than is Donald Trump.

Is nominating someone (Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden) who is older than Donald Trump a wise choice?

Is nominating someone only a few years younger (Elizabeth Warren, Jay Inslee, John Hickenlooper) a wise choice?

Or would it be far better to nominate someone much younger than Trump to attract younger voters, particularly millennials, someone in their 50s or 40s as a multitude of potential nominees are (ranging from Amy Klobuchar at age 60 down to Pete Buttigieg at age 39)–and including women, minorities, and a gay man to move the nation forward in the 21st century, with a greater guarantee that they will live out their one or two terms in the White House?

This is what Democrats in upcoming caucuses and primaries next year have to come to grips with, with no easy answer as to what should occur!

Donald Trump Does The Unforgivable: Attacks Joe Biden And Barack Obama On Foreign Soil, And Lies About The Obama-Biden Economic Record

Ronald 7 Comments

Donald Trump did the unforgivable by attacking former Vice President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama on foreign soil, while in Japan this past weekend.

It is a known rule that no President deals with domestic politics while overseas, and no President embarrasses his host by putting them on the spot as he criticizes political rivals.

But this is Donald Trump, who does not believe in any rules, regulations, or common decency.

Calling Biden a low IQ individual, agreeing with totalitarian dictator Kim Jong Un of North Korea, and claiming that both Obama and Biden presided over a disastrous administration in every way, including the economy, is the continuation of an attack on opponents that began with John McCain. It has now included everyone imaginable, and not just individuals that are well known, but also victims as in Puerto Rico after the hurricane, and groups of vulnerable people, such as refugees, gays and lesbians, transgender people, disabled people, and so many more.

The massive lie about Obama, Biden, and the economy is beyond belief, when the facts are that Obama presided over the greatest economic recovery in American history, greater than Franklin D. Roosevelt before World War II resolved the Great Depression.

From 10 percent unemployment, and the worst economic conditions in 70 years in 2009, inheriting the Great Recession under George W. Bush, to Obama and Biden leaving office in January 2017 with unemployment under 5 percent, we have now seen more than eight years of constant economic growth, an all time record. The continuation of economic growth under Donald Trump would have continued if Hillary Clinton was in the White House.

The stock market also recovered more than 250 percent from what it was when Obama-Biden came in during 2009 until the beginning of 2017. And all this was done without being engaged in a major war.

Trump can lie, and his minions can believe his use of the Big Lie technique of Adolf Hitler, but “the truth shall set us free”, and history will record Barack Obama and Joe Biden for their economic accomplishments.

Senator Lindsey Graham, A Despicable Turncoat Against The Principles Of His Friend, John McCain!

Ronald Leave a comment

The most shocking and surprising turn of events in the US Senate is that South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham has become a despicable turncoat against the principles of his friend, the late Arizona Senator John McCain.

There were no too better friends in the Senate than Graham and McCain, and both were condemnatory of Donald Trump in the 2016 Presidential campaign, including when Trump said McCain was not a war hero for being captured and tortured for over five years in the Vietnam War.

Graham said extremely critical points against Trump, and yet now, he has transformed totally to be a Trump lackey, including even when Trump still brings up McCain’s name in a critical manner.

Graham sees no obstruction of justice, abuse of power, violation of the Emoluments Clause, or Russian collusion, despite ample evidence of such impeachable crimes.

This is precisely the opposite of 20 years ago, when Graham as a House member, led the charge to impeach Bill Clinton on charges far less egregious than Trump has committed.

Graham was always a bit of a character, but now he has lost all credibility and legitimacy. Hopefully, he can be defeated for his Senate seat in 2020.

65 Years Since Supreme Court Decision In Brown V. Board Of Education

Ronald Leave a comment

A week ago, the nation commemorated the 65th anniversary of the most significant and far reaching Supreme Court decision of the 20th century, Brown V. Board of Education, decided in 1954 by an unanimous 9-0 decision, spurred on by the second greatest Chief Justice in American history, Earl Warren.

This decision, an extremely rare unanimous case, has had a dramatic effect on America, regarding race relations and equal opportunity, no debate about that.

But at the same time, there is still much racism and prejudice, spurred on by Donald Trump, after the inspiring election before him of Barack Obama, as the ugly side of human relations came to the forefront.

And although there has been progress as compared to before 1954, there still is too much inequity in schools and funding, particularly in “Red” states in the South and Midwest.

But we also see more social intermingling of the different racial groups, as generations of children have friends of people of different backgrounds, and more mixed race children are being born, since skin color has become for many young people not an issue as much as it was their grandparents and even parents.

There is still a lot of work and effort required to promote a truly multiracial society in a nation which will be majority minority in 2040 and beyond.

Nancy Pelosi, The Most Powerful Woman In American History, And Dealing With The Worst Tyrant In American History!

Ronald 3 Comments

Face it, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is the most powerful woman in American history, and dealing with the worst tyrant in American history, Donald Trump.

Pelosi is two heartbeats away from the Presidency, the highest position any woman has ever attained, as being Secretary of State (making Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton four heartbeats away from the Presidency in the administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama respectively), was the next highest position which has ever been attained by a woman.

Pelosi is already the third longest serving woman in the history of the House of Representatives, with 32.5 years of service since 1987.

She is a very strong leader, the most significant Speaker since Thomas “Tip” O’Neill was Speaker from 1977-1987, and is likely to be put in his league of significance, along with Speaker Sam Rayburn, who served 16 out of 20 years from 1941-1961.

She managed to overcome her rivals in the Democratic Party, including House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and House Majority Whip James Clyburn, and to control the new young membership of women who have come to the House in 2019.

She was able to hold her own with Republican Speakers John Boehner and Paul Ryan, and Donald Trump is truly terrified by her, and until just now, avoided calling her names, although now calling her “Crazy Nancy”, as she has made clear that “intervention” is needed, as Trump has displayed not just narcissistic behavior, but also signs of serious mental illness that threatens the nation’s national security.

If Trump thinks he can overcome this woman, he will clearly have a recognition over the next year and a half that Pelosi will triumph over him, and will bring him to the taking of responsibility and accountability for his illegal, unconstitutional behavior.

Anyone who underestimates Nancy Pelosi will learn the hard lesson, as many have, that she is a survivor who will not take abuse and turn her cheek, but will in her own unique manner, come out on top, as a savior of our American constitutional system.

The Federal Court System Is Going Back To 19th Century Mentality With Mediocre Trump Appointees Unwilling To Accept “Stare Decisis” On Major Issues Supposedly Settled, And Undermining American Democracy

Ronald Leave a comment

America is in danger of seeing the federal court system being hijacked by President Donald Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and the Republican Party, and putting us back in the late 19th century “Gilded Age”, where unregulated capitalism prevailed; segregation reigned; labor was victimized; the environment was being destroyed by industrial waste; and women had no basic legal rights.

Many Trump appointees to the lower federal courts are totally incompetent, and only placed in their lifetime positions to undermine all of the progress brought about under many different Presidents and Congresses in the past century to advance human rights.

Trump appointees seem ready to defy “stare decisis”, the concept of past precedent having a major impact on many areas of the law, when cases comes to the Supreme Court and other federal courts.

So we may be seeing the end of abortion rights for women; denial of equality of racial and religious minorities; refusal to promote a more fair justice system; treating gays, lesbians and transgender in a discriminatory manner; and the reassertion of unregulated corporate power.

A Different America In 2040: More Young Minorities, More Muslims Than Jews, Older Average Age Population

Ronald 3 Comments

In just one more generation, America will be a very different nation than it was when I was born at the time of the Battle of the Bulge (December 1944) in World War II’s last few months.

This blogger was born in New York City as a minority, a Jew in a primarily Protestant white America, with large percentages of Italian and Irish Catholics as the so called “minority”, along with Jews.

Yes, there were some African Americans in my graduating class, along with a few Puerto Ricans and Asian Americans, and even one native American young man.

But the idea that a century or so after my birth, in the 2040s, that we would have a population of aging white people in a nation rapidly rising in average age, and with a majority of young people being Latinos, Asians and African American ethnicity, and with more Muslims than Jews in the population, is indeed astounding.

But this is not something to mourn over, but see it as a challenge, to make a nation truly international in origin, not just from Europe, prosper and move ahead toward future challenges with optimism.

So the future is NOT the racist, nativist, white supremacist, antisemitic, and Islamophobic message sent out by Trump supporters, who also wish to control women and gays and lesbians, but rather to embrace the diversity of our nation and lead the world in tolerance.

This is something I wish for as I am now part of the aging population that wants a great future for the nation he loves!

11,037 House Members And 1,983 Senate Members Since 1789

Ronald 2 Comments

In the 230 plus years that Congress has been in existence since March 4, 1789, we have had 11,037 people serve in the House of Representatives, and 1,983 people serve in the US Senate.

10,360 members served only in the House of Representatives, while 1,306 members served only in the US Senate, and 677 members have served in both bodies of Congress.

29 members of the House of Representatives have served 40 or more years, with John Dingell of Michigan serving the longest, 59 years from 1955 to 2015.

16 Women in the House of Representatives have served 25 or more years, with Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, having served 36 plus years since 1983, the longest of any woman, and still serving, with Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker, being the third longest serving at nearly 32 years and counting from California since 1987.

25 US Senators have served 35 and a half years or more, with Robert Byrd of West Virginia serving nearly 51 and a half years from 1959 to 2010. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii served nearly 50 years from 1963 to 2012, while Strom Thurmond of South Carolina served 47 and a half years and was past age 100 when he left the Senate. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts served 46 years and more than 9 months from 1962 to 2009. Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy, still in the Senate, is 5th longest serving at 44 plus years since 1975.

The Battle In The Democratic Party Over Impeachment Vs. Democratic Goal Of Accomplishment Of Party Agenda

Ronald 49 Comments

The battle is in full swing now to move the House of Representatives toward impeachment hearings against Donald Trump.

But Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is still reluctant to move ahead, and it is causing a split within the Democratic caucus.

Donald Trump is refusing to cooperate in any fashion, including stonewalling any testimony by anyone connected to Trump, including by subpoena, and going to court to block any investigation of Trump tax returns.

Many Democrats are saying that the main emphasis of the Democratic Party should be to promote their agenda for the upcoming election, including dealing with Health Care, Global Warming, Environmental Protection, Education, the Minimum Wage, Civil Rights, and so much more.

The argument is that Donald Trump, even if impeached, will not be convicted by the Republican controlled US Senate, but the argument for doing what can be done is that it is needed to set a standard for future Presidents, so that never again, hopefully, will we have a lawless President on the level of a Donald Trump.

Despite Democratic desires to accomplish their legislative goals, the reality is that little actual legislation is possible as long as there is a divided Congress, where both parties control one chamber.

America is now, in many ways, in a greater crisis than we have had over the future of our Constitution and Bill of Rights since World War II, already seen as far greater than the Presidency of Richard Nixon. Then, many Republicans cooperated in doing what was essential to do, to get Nixon out of office, but sadly that is not the agenda now for a party which can only find one person, Congressman Justin Amash of Michigan, committed to impeachment and punishment for President Trump.